VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Colombo?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Abu Dhabi for

  • families
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Abu Dhabi’s own page.

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Colombo’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Abu Dhabi 78, Colombo 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Colombo 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Colombo 32: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Colombo 50: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Colombo 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 47 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Colombo 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Colombo 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Colombo.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiColombo

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiColombo
Official languageArabicTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+5:30
Emergency number112Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation14 m1 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiColombo
City population1,570,000647,557
People per km²1,61517,361
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Colombo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.